A young infantryman new to the British army is shipped off with his regiment to Belfast in 1971, the scene of recent increase in violence. After an incident in which one of his mates is killed, he is separated form his unit, and finds himself at large among the populace trying to find his way back to his base with the help of local residents who take him in.
Among those out looking for him are the IRA, which has recently splitting in to two factions. The older members and the new, younger street fighters known as the Provos are odds with one another in how to fight the occupation. Add to this some British undercover operatives at work behind the scenes running a dirty covert war and you have blurred lines that makes for only combatants and innocent victims among the populace that get caught in the middle.
This is not your typical historical tale, but rather a fresh view of the conflict that manages to both inform and entertain. The hand held camera work adds to the immediacy of the action and echoes the visual style of Paul Greengrass’s Bloody Sunday, another film set in 1970’s Northern Ireland. It’s more of an action thriller than a historical account, with a relentless pace and a narrative that unfolds over a single long night, and a slight nod to American film like Escape from New York andThe Warriors.
